2015-16

NATIONAL TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL SURVEY (NTPS)

PRELIMINARY FIELD ACTIVITIES

OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT

PART A

OMB# 1850-0598 v.10

September 2014

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. Justification

1. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary 2

2. Purposes and Uses of SASS 4

3. Appropriate Use of Information Technology 4

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication 4

5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Entities 4

6. Frequency of Data Collection 4

7. Special Circumstances of Data Collection 4

8. Consultations outside the Agency 5

9. Provision of payments or Gifts to Respondents 6

10. Assurance of Confidentiality 6

11. Sensitive Questions 6

12. Estimates of Hour Burden for Information Collection 6

13. Estimates of Cost Burden 7

14. Costs to the Federal Government 7

15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs 7

16. Time Schedule for Field Tests and Full-Scale SASS 8

17. Approval to not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval 8

18. Exception to the Certification Statement 7
2

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making Collection of Information Necessary

This request is to conduct the first phase of field activities for the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal 

Survey (NTPS), namely contacting and obtaining research approvals from school districts with an 

established research approval process and sending pre-contact letters to schools selected for NTPS 2015-

2016. A separate request will be submitted for the remainder of the 2015-16 NTPS full-scale data 

collection activities in early 2015, which will include the final version of the NTPS 2015-16 

questionnaires (please note that the draft questionnaires included in this submission are those that were

used in the 2014 NTPS Pilot Test (OMB#1850-0803) and not the 2015-16 main study final versions).

NTPS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), of the Institute of Education 

Sciences (IES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). It is a redesign of the Schools and Staffing 

Survey (SASS), which has been conducted seven times previously in 1987-88, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1999-

2000, 2003-2004, 2007-08, and 2011-12. The redesign is aimed at developing a study that is:

 highly flexible – utilizing rotating modules with core surveys of teachers and principals to provide 

ED and researchers with trend data on key topics, and the ability to quickly collect information on 

pressing topics;

 timely – administered and providing new data every two years instead of every 4 years, and designed 

from the ground up to allow for quick turnaround of datasets and reports with release of data within 

12 months of end of data collection; and

 integrated with other ED data – either linked with other collections such as EDFacts and CRDC, or 

maintaining variables that allow researchers to make these links.

NTPS has been designed to meet these objectives while also maintain SASS’s longstanding role as the 

primary source of data on teacher and principal labor markets, and on the state of K-12 school staffing. By

utilizing core content that is included in each round, along with rotating modules that allow deeper 

investigation of key topics, NTPS will cover a similar breadth of topics as did SASS but in more depth 

across two study administrations. Some of the key design changes from the 2011-12 SASS include:

 Nationally instead of state representative estimates;

 Data collection every two instead of every four years; and

 Removed district and library questionnaires to reduce burden, and use of extant data to replace items 

in the remaining forms.

Due to the low response rates achieved on the 2011-12 Private School SASS and currently being 

experienced on the 2013-14 Private School Survey (PSS), NCES has decided to postpone the collection of 

private school data in the 2015-16 NTPS, and instead to utilize the 2015-16 PSS to test approaches to 

enhance response rates among private schools.

Justification for the 2015-16 NTPS

Preparations for the 2014-2015 NTPS Pilot Test and other design and development activities have led to 

changes in NTPS field procedures, sampling design, and content compared with previous SASS studies. 

This package provides partial information about the planned new approach. The OMB clearance package 

for the remainder of the full-scale 2015-16 NTPS data collection, which will be submitted to OMB in 

early 2015, will incorporate the full set of changes resulting from the 2014-15 Pilot Test.
3

The basic components and key design features of the full-scale NTPS will respond to the need for 

comparative data on teachers, school administrators, and school policies and programs to fulfill the 

ongoing requirement for NCES to meet its legislative mandate to report on the “condition of education in 

the United States.” NTPS is the Department of Education’s primary source of information about the 

composition of the school workforce and policies affecting the recruitment, retention, and retirement of 

teachers and principals. It is unique among education studies in that it allows linkage between school, 

principal, and teacher responses. NTPS will replace SASS as one of the key sources of nationally

representative data on a range of important education topics including out of field teaching, school 

decision making, professional development, teacher and principal evaluation, and career path of educators 

and administrators. The cross-sectional repeated design of NTPS allows tracking of trends on these topics 

over time.

Legislative Authorization

NCES is authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA; 20

U.S. Code §9543).

Prior and Related Studies

The studies prior to the Schools and Staffing Survey were separate surveys of public and private schools, 

principals, teachers, and school districts under the Elementary and Secondary General Information 

System. The National Research Council report, “Creating a Center for Education Statistics: A Time for 

Action,” in 1986, noted:

“It is essential that any system of collecting education data recognize, reflect and react to the issue of timeliness (...) An 

example of such a lack is the case of teaching and teachers. With the publication of A Nation at Risk (National 

Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), these topics emerged as fundamental issues of concern, and the need for 

data was sudden and immediate. Unfortunately, information on the number of teachers and other professional staff – which 

we would think would be an essential element of any continuing data system – was last collected at the elementary and

secondary level in 1979-80. Data on minority teachers is even more archaic, having last been collected in 1968.”

This report caused a number of fundamental changes at NCES (formerly, the Center for Education 

Statistics). Among them was the establishment of the Schools and Staffing Survey, to collect data on a 

periodic basis about schools, principals, teachers, districts, and school libraries, all in the same survey 

year. The survey was designed to provide the data at the state level for public schools and at the 

“affiliation” level for private schools.

The General Education Provisions Act, as amended [20 U.S.C. §1211(e)(1)], specified that the National 

Center for Education Statistics (NCES) design an integrated survey system called the Schools and 

Staffing Survey (SASS). Legislative authority for NCES to collect data through surveys was reauthorized 

under the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, and has most recently been authorized by the 

provisions of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 cited above. SASS was first fielded in school 

year 1987-88, collected every 3 years through 1993-94, and then underwent a 6-year pause for major 

survey design revisions, which resulted in the 1999-2000 data collection. Since then, SASS has been on a 

4-year data collection cycle, with each SASS data collection followed one year later by the Teacher 

Follow-up Survey (TFS) & Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS) data collections. The most recent 

administration was in 2011-12. At the conclusion of the 2011-12 collection, NCES began to redesign 

SASS and named it the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) to reflect the redesigned study’s

narrowed focus on the teacher and principal labor market and on the state of K-12 school staff.
4

2. Purposes and Uses of NTPS

In the past, some of the most published analyses based on SASS have included average class size, the 

number of new teachers, out-of-field teaching, professional development, teacher attrition and retention, 

and teacher qualifications. NCES plans to keep items on these topics in NTPS. Based on previous 

administrations of SASS, the NTPS data will be used to develop nationally representative statistics on:

 teacher qualifications, teacher career paths, professional development needs and activities, and support 

for these aspects of teachers' careers by the school and the district;

 school organization and decision-making, management of curriculum and instruction, school safety, 

and parental involvement; and

 policies pertaining to the recruitment and retention of teachers and principals.

3. Appropriate Use of Information Technology

This request is to contact and obtain research approvals from school districts (also referred to as LEA’s) 

that require approval by their research board or a similar body before their schools can be asked to 

participate in a study, and to send pre-contact letters to schools selected for NTPS 2015-2016. We will use 

computer software to track communications with districts and schools and the status of NTPS application 

to districts for conducting research in their schools. Additionally, to the extent possible, communications

with districts and schools will utilize email, fax, and other electronic means.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

A key element of the NTPS design principle was to leverage trusted data sources instead of asking 

schools or districts to report items on NTPS that they or their state have already provided through other 

collections. At the start of the SASS redesign, all SASS items were crosswalked against a variety of ED’s

and external data sources. From this review, a number of duplicate or near duplicate items were identified.

As a result, NCES plans to append data from the Common Core Data (CCD), Civil Rights Data 

Collection (CRDC), and other sources to the NTPS files in order to enrich and not duplicate data 

collection on these topics. In some cases a duplicate item was kept on NTPS because the extant variable 

was not suitable for NTPS (e.g. due to an issue with periodicity, availability, item wording, reliability, or 

the item being needed for confirmation purposes).

5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Entities

The burden on small schools is minimized during the NTPS through the sample design that specifies the 

selection of schools as a function of size defined by the number of teachers. Small schools and districts, 

therefore, will be sampled at lower rates because they comprise a smaller proportion of the teacher 

population per school. Additionally, a large component of this redesign is specifically to improve the data 

collected and minimize the burden imposed on respondents.

6. Frequency of Data Collection

NCES plans for the NTPS to be collected on a two year cycle.

7. Special Circumstances of Data Collection

There are no circumstances that will require special data collection efforts.
5

8. Consultants outside the Agency

Since its inception, the development of SASS has relied on the substantive and technical review and 

comment of people both inside and outside the Department of Education. Outside experts who were 

convened to offer comments on proposed revisions for the NTPS and their affiliation at the start of the 

project include:

Dale Ballou

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

Mark Berends

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

Rolf Blank

Council of Chief State School Officers

Washington, D.C.

Sean Corcoran

New York University

New York, NY

Betheny Gross

Center on Reinventing Public Education

University of Washington

Seattle, WA

Richard Ingersoll

University of Pennsylvania

Graduate School of Education

Philadelphia, PA

Joe McTighe

Council for American Private Education

Germantown, MD

Anna Nicotera

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

Washington, DC

Gary Sykes

Understanding Teaching Quality Research Center

Education Testing Services

Princeton, NJ

The following experts served as part of the SASS team in previous rounds of administration:

Mr. Aref Dajani

Chief, Longitudinal Surveys Branch

Demographic Statistical Methods Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233

Ms. Jill Dever

Senior Research Statistician,

RTI International

Statistics and Epidemiology Unit (RTI-DC)

701 13th Street N.W. Suite 750

Washington, D.C. 20005-3967

Mr. Steve Tourkin

Chief, Education Surveys Branch

Demographic Surveys Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233

The current NTPS design has benefited from consultation with the following federal experts:

Mr. Stephen Broughman

Statistician, Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch

Sample Surveys Division, NCES

1990 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Ms. Kathryn Chandler

Statistician, Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch

Sample Surveys Division, NCES

1990 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Dr. Cleo Redline

Senior Research Scientist,

Statistical Standards and Data Confidentiality, NCES

1990 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Ms. Shawna Graham

Assistant Survey Director, Education Surveys Branch

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233

Mr. Mark Masterton

Survey Statistician

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233

Ms. Teresa Thomas

Survey Statistician

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233
6

9. Provision of payments or Gifts to Respondents

NCES will not provide a cash incentive to survey respondents. Some Districts charge a fee to process 

research application requests, which we will pay as necessary.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The NTPS data collection agent, the Census Bureau, shall comply with ED’s IT security requirements as 

set forth in the Handbook for Information Assurance Security Policy; with related procedures and 

guidance, including the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) Circulars, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards 

and guidance; and with the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002; 20 U.S.C., § 9573).

These requirements include the successful certification and accreditation of the system before it can be 

implemented. Appropriate memoranda of understanding and interconnection security agreements will be 

documented as part of the certification and accreditation process.

From the initial contact with the participants in this survey through all of the follow-up efforts, potential 

survey respondents will be informed that all of the information they provide may only be used for 

statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as 

required by law [Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002; 20 U.S.C., § 9573). The 

following language will be included on all survey instruments:

Your responses are protected from disclosure by federal statute (20 U.S.C., §9573). All responses that relate to 

or describe identifiable characteristics of individuals may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be 

disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose, unless otherwise compelled by law.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of 

information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this voluntary 

information collection is 1850-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to 

average XX minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, 

gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments

concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this collection, or comments or 

concerns about the contents or the status of your individual submission of this questionnaire, please e-mail: 

addp.education.surveys@census.gov, or write directly to: National Teacher and Principal Survey, National 

Center for Education Statistics, 1990 K Street, N.W., #9046, Washington, DC 20006.

11. Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions administered during the district and school pre-contact operation. We 

will only be responding to questions from the districts.

12. Estimates of Hour Burden for Information Collection

This submission is to request clearance to contact and seek research approval from what are known as 

“Special Contact Districts” and to send pre-contact letters to schools selected for the 2015-2016 NTPS 

sample. The special contact districts are those known to require completion of a research application 

before they will allow schools under their jurisdiction to participate in a study. Based on an initial 

assessment of previous SASS data collections, we estimate that 320 special contact districts will be in the 

sample. The school pre-contact letter is to verify school mailing addresses and to inform schools about the 
7

upcoming data collection. About 4% of all school addresses get corrected by the U.S. Post Office in 

response to the pre-contact letter, saving time and effort during the actual data collection period.

Contacting special districts begins with updating district information based on what can be gleaned from 

online sources. Calls are then placed to verify the information about where to send the completed required 

research application forms, and, if necessary, to collect contact information for this process. During the 

call, inquiry is also made about the amount of time the districts spend reviewing similar research 

applications. The estimated number of such districts represents those with particularly detailed application 

forms and lengthy processes for approval. This operation should begin in early 2015 to allow sufficient 

time for special districts’ review processes. We will begin contacting these districts upon receiving 

OMB’s approval, and continue to work with them until we receive a final response (approval or denial of 

request) up until January 20, 2016.

The projected number of responses for each activity is based on the currently proposed NTPS 2015-16 

sample size, which takes into account eligibility and response rates from 2011-12 SASS.

Table 1. Estimates of respondent burden for preliminary field activities for the 2015-2016 NTPS 

Activity Sample Size

Estimated 

Number of 

Respondents

Average Response 

Time per Respondent

(Minutes)

Total 

Burden 

Hours

Contacting special 

districts for research 

approval

403 320 240 1,280

School pre-contact letter 7,800 5,300 1 88

TOTAL -- 5,620 -- 1,368

Respondents to the preliminary field activities for NTPS will not incur any costs other than their time to 

respond. Currently, the mean hourly rate of an education administrator is $42.68 (Source: BLS 

Occupational Employment Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/oes/ datatype: SOC:119030 (Education 

Administrators); accessed on April 23, 2014). Thus the estimated respondent dollar cost for these 

preliminary field activities is $58,386.

13. Estimates of Cost Burden

There are no additional costs to respond beyond the time to respond.

14. Costs to the Federal Government

The cost to the federal government for the 2015-16 NTPS preliminary activities is $250,000. The Census 

Bureau estimates were developed by the Census Bureau divisions involved in these activities.

15. Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs

Estimated respondent burden in this request shows a decrease from last approval, because this request

covers only the special districts’ research approval process activities and pre-contact letter to schools 

planned for the NTPS 2015-2016, while the previous clearance was for the full scale data collection for 

2012-13 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS:2013) and Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS:2013) to the 

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). This request, in turn, will be followed in early 2015 by a request to 

conduct the full scale NTPS 2015-2016 data collection activities.
8

16. Time Schedule for NTPS

We will begin to contact special districts for research approval upon receiving OMB’s clearance. The 

school pre-contact letter will be delivered in June, 2015. The following activities for NTPS data collection 

are tentative and will be submitted to OMB for approval in the next clearance package:

Contact Special Districts to begin approval process January 2015 – August 2015

Complete and deliver special district applications and packages January 2015 – January 20, 2016

Draft special mailing materials for special districts May 2015 – January 20, 2016

Mail school pre-contact letters where approved or no approval needed June 2015

Begin NTPS 2015-16 Data Collection August 2015

17. Approval to not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval

We are not seeking approval to not display the expiration date of OMB approval.

18. Exception to the Certification Statement

No exception to the certification statement is being requested.